


Read you like an Open Book

by W33hawken



Series: Danganronpa stories [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Ultimate Analyst Shuichi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 15:34:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17490611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/W33hawken/pseuds/W33hawken
Summary: Tsumugi Shirogane wasn't having a very good day. Far from it. Her plans have been shot to shit, and she doesn't have a backup. The narrative she worked so hard to build was shattered in an instant. For a moment, it seems like all was lost, and her chance to make the greatest killing game ever made have gone down the drain.Until Shuichi knocks on her door.





	Read you like an Open Book

* * *

  
Tsumugi was fuming. Her narrative, the one she worked so hard to construct, crumbled to pieces before her. She had thought she prepared for every possible outcome, every possible wrong turn accounted for, even her back ups had back ups. All Kaede had to do was roll the ball down the vent. It didn't matter how it played out, the game would continue as planned as long as she did that one simple action. She wrote her to do so for god's sake, she knows her better than she knows herself!  
  
The original plan was for her to roll the ball, Rantaro is found dead, she get's executed after a long winded speech about hope and perserverance, Shuichi develops as a character, and the game goes on. But if that didn't happen, that was ok. If she was somehow found innocent and Rantaro's death was labeled as a suicide, she would continue on with the others distrusting her, her and Shuichi develop feelings for each other, her and the other survivors would reconcile, and with the power of love and hope they'd persevere, the shippers in the audience would love that she bet. Or, the worse case scenario out of the 3, they would somehow find out that Tsumugi herself was the mastermind AND the murderer, and the game would end prematurely or Monokuma would continue it in her absence. She was prepared for all 3 outcomes.  
  
She was not prepared for a very much alive Rantaro outside the library, consoling a bawling and apologetic Kaede earlier that day. What was she supposed to do now? None of her scripts were prepared for a living ultimate survivor, or the contestants not taking the first motive. The audience who watched Danganronpa Season 52 will certainly be happy their protagonist from last game is alive and well, but she didn't have anything planned for this outcome. She paced back and forth her room, panic slowly rising within her. It was nighttime, and the rooms were soundproof, so she screamed out her frustration as loud as she could. Thank god she didn't have cameras in her room.  
  
How? How did she go against her writing? She was literally destined to try and kill Rantaro. She wrote in her script to act a certain way, feel a certain way, she designed her costume, she literally birthed this version of Kaede Akamatsu. So why didn't she do it? It didn't make sense. It didn't make any sense at all. She couldn't have had a change of heart on her own, and it wasn't possible for anyone to predict the murder, right? No one expects the pretty optimistic girl to go for blood first, that hasn't happened since Junko Enoshima's game, and even then it backfired and the girl got murdered instead.  
  
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. She took a deep breath, getting into character, and she opened the door. She was genuinely surprised to Shuichi standing there, sheepish look on his face.  
  
"Good evening Shirogane, there is something I wish to speak to you about. I apologize if I may be interrupting anything. May I come in?" he asked, a meek yet polite aura radiating off of him. He was supposed to be the new protagonist, and grow into an independent, confident, and strong willed young man hardened by the death of his love interest and determined to end the killing game. He was supposed to be so cool, she wonders how he's going to turn out now. "Ah, Saihara, come in! I'm not particularly busy at the moment," she replied, opening the door and letting him in. A very plain room indeed, filled with only the bare essentials. She wanted to mirror Hajime Hinata's room style as much as possible, so nothing in her room showed any sign of individuality. Shuichi grabbed a stray chair from the corner of the room, and took a seat.  
  
"So, are you surprised?" he asked. His face was completely emotionless, but something in his tone was similar to that of anticipation. What. What kind of question is that? Surprised at what exactly?  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Suprised that Kaede didn't kill Rantaro."  
  
Huh? What was he getting at? Whatever, just give him some bullshit, maybe he'll go away.  
  
"T-that's an odd question, Saihara. Of course, I'm quite relieved that no one had to resort to murder, and we're all still alive. I know it seems tough at the moment, but if we stick to our guns and stay strong, we'll beat this killing game!" She said, triumph oozing out of her words. Of course, she wanted to vomit with every syllable spoken, but she wasn't the real Shirogane Tsumugi, killing game enthusiast right now. She was cosplaying as her persona, a shy plain girl with a nerdy side and hidden charms. She was cute enough that fans would like her, and hidden and impersonal enough that no one would target her. She had no ties to anyone here, her talent harmless, her hobbies scare off any potential for anyone to want to be her friend. No reason to be targeted. The perfect cover.  
  
Shuichi looked... disappointed at her answer? Like he was expecting, no, hoping, for something else. He sighed, and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Read this," was all he said. She took the paper and unfolded it.  
  
What she read shook her to her core.  
  
On the paper, word for word, even including her fucking stutter, was her entire speech. The speech she just improvised right now. She felt the color drain from her face. She slowly looked up at Shuichi, who was grinning maliciously this point.  
  
"Predictable. Disgustingly, despairingly predictable. You're the worst mastermind to ever grace a killing game. Even the 38th mastermind, who was literally a carbon copy of Monaca Towa, was less banal than you. You are a disgrace to every single mastermind that has ever been blessed with the role. You claim to be a true fan, but you're so easy to read it makes me want to kill you and then myself," he finished, spitting on her floor.  
  
Tsumugi felt like she had just been hit by a stampede. How. How did he know. She wiped everyone's memories. She gave him a bottom bitch personality that would blossom into a worthy protagonist, she wrote his god damn script too! What the fuck is happening? This is beyond worse case scenario. Shuichi continued.  
  
"Everyone here is easy to read. I know what everyone is going to do, what everyone is going to say, how everybody is going to react, nothing is beyond my knowledge. I could easily do whatever I want. I already knew based on Kaede's personality and demeanor that she was suspected Rantaro. I already knew when she had the shot put ball. I knew the trick she was pulling with the book placements. I already knew when she found the resolve to kill him. And I knew the exact time she was going to do it too," he explained, foot lightly and repeatedly tapping the floor.  
  
"So naturally, I stopped it from ever happening. It was unexpected, wasn't it? Could you feel it? The utterly crushing despair as the narrative that you slaved away for hours upon hours, crumbled away in an instant?" his smile was alarmingly wide, and she could see something that wasn't human in his eyes. It was a fierce hunger, a look that only belonged on an animal staring down his prey. He was without a doubt enjoying this.  
  
"When the receiver went off, I rushed to the library, just as you hoped. But unbeknownst to Kaede, I had stuffed the vent in the library with the books she had moved and sealed it off with some of my spare clothes in my closet the previous night. The ball never made it inside. You must've been confused when you didn't hear the sound of the shot put missing, am I right?" He questioned, the twisted grin never leaving his face. Tsumugi genuinely feared for her life. Was he going to kill her? Why was he telling her this? She decided to speak up.  
  
"Wha-"  
  
"What is the point of me telling you this? That's what you're going to ask right? Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, nor am I going to expose you. Despite how dreadfully dull you are, we share a common interest. We both love this killing game with all our hearts!" He exclaimed, his face heating up. She was shocked at the new piece of information. Yeah, she knew Shuichi and everyone else here was obsessed with Danganronpa, but he didn't look affected by the mind wiping at all! How did he act so perfectly? He didn't read the script, but he knew there was a narrative and his exact role? He knew she was the mastermind? How? She decided the last question was the most important.  
  
"How did you know I was the mastermind?" She asked carefully. She had absolutely no control in this situation, Shuichi had all the power.  
  
"I didn't."  
  
"...Huh?"  
  
WHAT.  
  
He pulled out 12 other papers. She looked through all of them, each labeled with a name of a different survivor. They all had dialogue, written to be a perfect recreation of how they would react to his question. Every stutter, pause to take a breath, every single quirk that every student had. Perfectly calculated. Her jaw was on the floor, and he seemed to be relishing in the look of sheer horror on her face.  
  
"I took a gamble, you see? I had a 1 in 13 chance of getting it right, and I did! How lucky. Everything I said in the beginning wasn't meant for you specifically. It was a carbon copy response I was supposed to give everybody! And if I got it wrong, well, game over for me! But I didn't, didn't I? That's why I never said your name while I was explaining. I wanted to hear YOU say it, YOU out yourself. I didn't find you out, you WILLINGLY gave yourself up! Are you stupid?!" He begun to laugh, a sickening sound echoing throughout the room.  
  
Tsumugi begun to shake. Everything was happening too fast. He was supposed to be the ultimate detective, not the ultimate omnipotent being.  
  
"You're fucking crazy! You bet it all on a chance?! This is too risky! You'd have to be the ultimate lucky student to pull this shit off, and even then that doesn't explain these papers, nor does it explain how you knew what Kaede was going to do AND that Rantaro was going to be in the library! Who are you?! You aren't the Shuichi Saihara I wrote!" She sprung up and pointed at him, she couldn't help but shout at the monster in front of her. His expression never shifted, the grin only grew wider. But, what scared her most, was how soft his tone became as he spoke his next words.  
  
"Maybe I am crazy. But, is that a bad thing? To be crazy, I mean. What's wrong with unpredictability? Sure, humans have an innate fear of the unknown, but if everything goes as planned, well, isn't that positively dull? What's the point of living if it's all predetermined? That's why I love these killing games! Betrayal, suspense, action, heartbreak, perserverance, love, hope, despair, investigations, executions, I love it all! You never really know what's going to happen! But not this time. I already knew where this boring killing game was going right from the start. I bet Ryoma was going to die next, am I right? Don't answer, I already know I'm correct. That's how boring you are. So I have to take matters into my own hands. If you aren't going to deliver on making a true, honest to god killing game, then I will instead. So, let's play Shirogane! You versus me, the board is the academy, and our pieces will be the lives of the others! It'll be a game within a game! Doesn't that sound fun?!" he explained his reasoning to her.  
  
None of what he said actually answered her questions, but it did tell her his true intentions. He really loved Danganronpa, just as much as she did. He wanted a true killing game, just like the original. They were alike, in that sense. But he was beyond her in every way imaginable. He wasn't just one step ahead, he was leaps and bounds from her. She wasn't even on the same universe, and they both knew it. He could easily end it whenever he wants, or kill her and get away with it, or just expose her outright. But instead, he chose to play along.  
  
"Who are you?" her voice was tiny now, unable to rise in face of the extreme pressure the thing before her was giving off. He gave her a genuine smile, but it wasn't one out of malice. No, it was as if she were a childhood friend, and she had asked him if he wanted to go out for some ice cream. It put her at ease, and she felt her shoulders lose tension and slump to her sides. That was probably the most freightning thing he did that night, change her emotions so quickly. He answered her question.  
  
"Tell me if this sounds familiar. To quote a certain talent file, 'An incredibly precise ability, which essentially allows the user to predict what a person is going to do before they do it, and overall makes them great at planning'. Does that ring a bell for you?" He said, genuine curiosity oozing from every word.  
  
Tsumugi racked her brain. She KNEW for a fact she read that somewhere before, but where... Wait. That sounds exactly like... No. No, it can't be. There's only been 2 people in recorded history with that talent, and one of them was literally called "the one who is loved by talent". He shouldn't have it. The odds of that should be null. There was zero evidence of him being an ultimate before the flashback light. But if she were to assume he did, then every single action he took made sense. Why he picked detective out of every talent. No normal person could plan that whole thing out flawlessly. No normal person could completely predict her entire speech pattern, let alone 15 other people's speech pattern with perfect accuracy. No normal person would take such a colossal risk and be completely ok doing it unless they were truly bored.  
  
Her eyes widened, and she begun to involuntarily shake. She had reached her answer, and he knew it.  
  
"That's right. My true talent. I'm not the Ultimate Detective. Rather, something far superior, but similar in concept. I am Shuichi Saihara, Ultimate Analyst!" he triumphantly declared, pride evident in his voice.  
  
She was essentially playing a game with her idol, the ultimate despair, Junko Enoshima. Meeting her was always a dream. But they didn't think the same. Junko had no reason to do what she did, no motivation. Shuichi was dead set on having a killing game to end all killing games. And he decided that she would be his rival.  
  
She was absolutely terrified and estatic all at once.  
  
"And with that, I take my leave. Hopefully you'll be able to rest, I wouldn't want you to be exhausted. Our game starts tomorrow, so get excited! Let's make this the greatest killing game mankind shall ever bear witness to!" He said this as he grabbed her hands, stars in his eyes. She couldn't help but return the smile in full, nodding feverishly in agreement. Then, he gave her a quick, tight hug to her surprise, and made a swift but silent exit.  
  
Tsumugi sat there in silence for a while, fully processing the event that had just transpired. She felt more emotion, more of a rush then and there then she ever had in her life, only rivaled by the excitement of a new Danganronpa season.  
  
She retracts her previous statement. This, is truly best case scenario.  
  
  



End file.
